Rajinikanth’s Rana in the future?

Shriya Saran at Handloom Fashion Show Gallery. Kollywood hot actress Shriya Saran at Handloom Fashion Show held in Chennai. Handloom Saree was designed by Sabyasachi Mukherjee for the Fashion week. Shriya Saran was performing a ramp walk in the Fashion week 2010 .

We had reported earlier that a set depicting the Mumbai’s slum Dharavi has been erected at a studio in Chennai for Mankatha’s shooting. The unit is busy with the next schedule of work which will be shot in this set.

It has also been confirmed now that for the first time, Ajith and Arjun will be teaming up for Mankatha. Apart from them, Trisha, Lakshmi Rai, Subbu Panchu, Premji Amaren, Mahath, Ashwin, Vaibhav and Jai Prakash are included in the star cast.

Director Venkat Prabhu’s favorite cameraman Shakthi Saravanan once again joins his camp to wield the camera. Praveen Srikanth will edit this film. Kalyan and Shoby are the choreographers and stunts are by Selva.

Vaali and Gangai Amaren have penned the lyrics and Yuvan Shankar Raja has scored the music. Three songs have been completed yet and a popular personality is to be roped in for rendering a song in this film. However, details about this personality are closely guarded till now.

The final schedule of Mankatha will be shot in Mumbai and Hyderabad in February is the additional info from the team.

It was a freak mishap for STR alias Silambarasan on Friday night when he was shooting for ‘Vaanam’ on the busy lanes of Triplicane in Chennai.

According to sources, the actor was riding on a two-wheeler he lost balance all of a sudden and fell down. “However, smart Silambarasan got up immediately sensing that a lot of vehicles were coming from behind,” they say.

The actor, who had an injury on his head and bruises in some parts of the body, was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital. Doctors, who gave him first aid, asked STR to be on rest for few days.

“I am okay now. I think it was my presence of mind that saved me. Otherwise, vehicles behind would have run over me,” he says, adding a major part of the movie has been shot but for a song.

A remake of Telugu hit ‘Vedam’, ‘Vaanam’ directed by Krish, has Silambarasan, Anushka, Bharath, Sneha Ullal, Prakash Raj, Sonia Agarwal and Vega in lead roles. Music is by Yuvan Shankar Raja.

South Indian actress Nayanthara, who started her career with the Malayalam film Manassinakkare in 2003, has come a long way in the South film industry. She is one South actress, who is balancing her work in all four South Indian languages and this has given her a strong foothold in the industry.

However, the year 2009 was not quite good for the 26 year old actress as she had just one successful release in the form of Suriya starrer Aadhavan. It was released in October and was among very few of successful movies of the year.

In 2010, Nayanthara has made her comeback with a bang. All the films starring her in the lead role were commercial success in this year. She had four super hit releases in all the South Indian languages. The list of her successful journey of 2010 includes Bodyguard in Malayalam, Simha in Kannada, Boss Engira Bhaskaran and Simha in Telugu.

Boss Engira Bhaskaran released with extremely positive reviews and turned out to be a blockbuster. On the other hand, Simha turned out to be one of the highest-grossing Telugu movies of 2010.

Above all, Nayanthara received standing ovation from the audience at the International Film Festival of India in Goa for her spectacular performance in the Malayalam movie Electra.

Nayan is obviously excited about this achievement of the year and says that she feels privileged to have acted in some of the most successful movies in the South. She has become the first South Indian heroine in the history to have all hit films in the four southern languages in a single year.

Kaavalan’s release date has been announced to be January 14th, 2010. The makers of this film had been eyeing a December release but had to postpone the release to January for several reasons. It is now said that Kaavalan will be finally out on January 14th competing with Dhanush’s Aadukalam and other films.

This Vijay-starrer is made under the banner Eka Veera Creations produced by C Romesh Babu. Directed by Siddique, this film stars Vijay, Asin, Raj Kiran, Roja, Vadivelu. Vidyasagar has scored the music for Kaavalan.

After her dazzling performance in Prabas-starrer Billa and Jaganmohini (2009), South India's hot property Namitha is back with Pa. Vijay's Illangyan, a period film that narrates the story of a mother and son.

Sexy siren Namitha plays a prominent role, reportedly a character with some negative shades. "Well its out and out Vamp character! I m Bad! Pllllllllls don't hate me after watching this film as you know its not a REAL me," Namitha recently tweeted! Namitha plays the role of a manipulative woman in the film. According to the actress, her role in Illangyan will be a powerful one just like Ramya Krishnan's Neelambari in Padaiyappa.

Media houses in Chennai were gripped with a rumour Thursday evening that actor Vijay would anytime call on former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa.

This resulted in scribes calling their colleagues in cinema and political beats with all anxiousness to know as to when the meeting would take place and whether the actor would enroll himself in the main opposition party of the State.

The actor, who apparently has political ambitions, met Jayalalithaa at a marriage function in Chennai recently and cherished his brief meeting with the former Chief Minister in an interview to a magazine.

Jayalalithaa, while addressing a massive rally at Madurai, said without mentioning the name of Vijay that an actor was facing troubles and hurdles from the ruling party thanks to his political ambitions.

Most part of ‘Siruthai’, Karthi Sivakumar’s forthcoming film, has been shot and the film is fast getting ready for a Pongal release. “It is going to be an action extravaganza for this harvest festival,” sources claim.

Produced by Studio Green, the film is a remake of Tollywood blockbuster ‘Vikramakudu’ which had Ravi Teja in dual roles with Anushka playing the heroine.

The Tamil version, directed by Siva, will have Karthi and Tamanna replacing Ravi Teja and Anushka respectively. “This is first time for Karthi to play a double role and he has performed it with ease and style,” sources say.

“In a particular song sequence, Karthi appears in nine getups which are going to be a treat for his fans. Besides, a lot of importance is given to stunt sequences and the second half will be full of twists and action,” they add.

Silambarasan’s pet project ‘Vaanam’ hasn’t failed to be in the news at regular intervals all through its making. Be it for the heroine or the second hero or for the recently much hyped single track release. ‘Vaanam’ is aiming the sky.

The film is again in the news and this time for its comedian. Buzz says that Silambarasan is not happy with the performance of a popular comedian who worked in the film and has instructed the director to re-shoot the entire comedy portions again with Santhanam.

Santhanam who is the hottest comedian of the day agreed to adjust his dates to accommodate ‘Vaanam’ but not before cleverly hiking his fee. It’s urgent not ordinary you see.

‘Vaanam’ is the remake of the Telugu blockbuster ‘Vedam’. It is a multi starrer film with Silambarasan, Anushka, Bharath, Vega, Prakash Raj and Sonia Agarwal in main roles. ‘Vaanam is expected to release early 2011.

Superstar Rajinikanth will be celebrating his 61st birthday on December 12, 2010.

His wife Latha and other family members are planning to celebrate it in a big way.

The Sashtiabthapoorthi celebrations and special Poojas are planned to be conducted at the Poes Garden residence of Rajinikanth.

It is a 'Thanks Giving' to God, and many homam's associated with Sashtiabdhapoorthi will be conducted for general well being and good health.

One of the ceremonies is where Rajinikanth and Latha will tie the knot again.

Only close family friends and relatives are likely to take part in this function. The superstar is very keen that it should remain a very private affair.

The buzz is that the Sashtiapthapoorthi poojas will be conducted prior to December 12. The superstar plans to take off to an undisclosed destination to avoid fanfare and media attention on his birthday.

Prabhu Deva’s meeting with the press was a highly anticipated affair and it happened recently in Chennai. Though the director convened the meet for Engeyum Kadhal, a film directed by him, the press were naturally eager to ask questions about Nayanthara.

Brushing them aside, the director only answered queries pertaining to Engeyum Kadhal. He said that most part of the shooting has been completed in France and it will be a romantic flick with the locations adding its touch of romance.

Prabhu, on how he manages to excel in different aspects of cinema such as acting, direction and choreography, said that he never seeks anything but take things as it comes.